“Our prayers continue to be with the victims of the Austin bombings and their families. We continue to offer our support as the federal government and local authorities work to bring those responsible to justice. To be clear, these bombings must be classified as ongoing terrorist attacks and should be investigated as such. Also, we need to understand if these attacks are ideologically or racially motivated. The community impacted is now under virtual house arrest and the entire city is posed to be in a state of fear – which can easily transition into panic. We cannot stand idly by while our communities are under attack. This has become a national security issue and the full investigative force of the federal government must be focused on stopping these attacks.”

“We call on Congressional leadership to join us in insisting that Members of Congress be briefed on these heinous acts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation before Congress adjourns on Thursday. We also call on the Chairmen of the Committees we serve on - Homeland Security and Judiciary - to recognize the gravity of the domestic terrorism threat and work with us on developing concrete and common sense solutions to counter it. For too long we have focused only on certain sources of terrorism and violence while ignoring others.”